Category Archives for Commentary.
Frequent Miler writes that he accepted complimentary Diamond status from IHG and Spirit Airlines Gold status. Those companies wanted to influence his coverage, but the perks helped him cover those experiences. He was offered free IHG One Rewards points and Milestone Rewards so he could better cover the new program as well.
I figured this was a good opportunity to re-iterate my own position.
Sometimes when you talk to airline or hotel employees that work in loyalty fraud they seem to think that a customer benefiting ‘too much’ (being unprofitable) is the definition of fraud. They’re in their own bubble, and they’re probably doing their own programs a disservice.
Too much is often considered – or a flag for – fraud within the loyalty industry. But that doesn’t mean there’s not real fraud.
It’s been 36 years since Top Gun. The house where Tom Cruise seduced his flight instructor, Kelly McGillis, is now a pie shop on the grounds of Hyatt’s Mission Pacific hotel.
Now it’s been rebooted and aviation geeks may find it “two thumbs up, five stars, and a must-see.” It’s close-up aviation scenes and cinematography. That’s also all it is [very few spoilers].
I started blogging one weekend day in May 2002 on a lark. I had several friends with blogs back then, and I thought I’d try my hand at it. Only I didn’t have anything truly original to say on politics and current events, which is what other blogs I knew about were doing. So I decided to write about travel and miles and points along with an eclectic amalgamation of offbeat news. I focused on what people came to me for help with and just things that amused me. I was writing for myself, not for anyone else.
“Bleisure” is one of the most cringe-worthy words in travel. Journalists have been doing ‘trend pieces’ on business travelers extending their trips and adding leisure days, perhaps with family, and hotels chains started getting excited about selling extra room nights (and offering the ability to combine points stays and paid nights in a single reservation).
Only it never really took over beyond a certain threshold, no matter how much people in the industry talked it up at conferences. Maybe, though, all it took was a pandemic.
Emed sells proctored Covid-19 tests for travel to the U.S. at 6 for $150 plus shipping. Unsurprisingly, they believe that a requirement for passengers to test prior to flying to the U.S. needs to remain in place.
Open Skies became the official policy of the United States thirty years ago. On March 31, 1992, then-Transportation Secretary Andrew Card announced that the U.S. would pursue agreements with Europen countries that would, in turn, allow free access to their aviation markets.
Since then the U.S. has entered into agreements with 120 countries to allow airlines based in those countries to fly here, and giving U.S. airlines the opportunity to operate to each foreign country. This was visionary, it was great policy, and it was politically risky because protectionism almost always polls better.
What I always hated most about winter was how early it got dark. It would be dark before I left work in the evening. Work from home solved that for me long before it did for most other people but I still hated changing the clocks.
Airlines hate it even more, because of how it messes with their schedules.
This 1990 United Airlines commercial really nailed why business travel will return in some form, how a ‘phone call and a fax’ doesn’t replace face-to-face business meetings. And yet business travel will be forever changed.
There are trips that used to happen that won’t, trips that do happen with fewer people on them, and the trips that happen won’t happen on the same days or necessarily for as long.
Iceland has become the latest of many countries to remove pandemic-era restrictions. One Mile at a Time says they’re “encourag[ing] people to get infected.”
I don’t think that’s right, and lifting restrictions isn’t a “let ‘er rip” strategy as some have argued, either. It’s simply that the condition that made restrictions make sense early in the pandemic are no longer in effect today.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
